MEMORABILIA
This is a model of Honduran Air Force (then-) Major Enrique Soto Cano's F4U-5N, which he flew to three victories in the 1969 war with El Salvador. Built for the National Air and Space Museum's ARRIBA! display.
FLIGHTGEAR
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The helmet on the left is a Russian ShL-70 (meshtop "tropical" helmet) with a KM-16N demand-diluter mask, typically used in the MiG-15UTI and L-29. |
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This one is the same helmet with a KM-32 pressure-demand oxygen mask, as worn by MiG-17 pilots. |
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The above are based on photos of Cuban MiG pilots, but are not actually Cuban.
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Russian ZSh-3M with KM-32 mask. |
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Chinese TK-2A with YM-6505 mask. The KM-32 and YM-6505 appear quite different but function the same and are virtually interchangeable. |
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Chinese 1977 helmet with YM-6502 demand-diluter oxygen mask. Although these helmets appear identical to Russian models there are differences: the leather is brown instead of black and the earphone housings are slightly smaller. The YM-6502 is similar to - and was developed from - the KM-16, and is interchangeable with it. This combination could be worn easily with a ZSh-3 hardshell (minus the goggles, of course), and may have been used that way by the Vietnamese. |
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Fuerza Aerea Mexicana SPH-5 helicopter helmet - note Mexican colors on the visor housing. This example was reputedly used during the Chiapas uprising. |
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Canadian Gentex DH 41-2. Uniquely Canadian fast-jet helmet. |
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USAF P-3 rebuilt to Yugoslav PK-07 standards. The mask is US-made (by the Shelby Shoe Company). |
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USAF P-1B modified with 1957 visor. |
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"Korean War" MiG-15 Set - actually 1957 Chinese helmet with KM-16A oxygen mask. For some reason many MiG-15 pilots in the early '50s flew without eye protection - perhaps they thought goggles were passé in a jet with a pressurized cockpit? (For that matter, some American aircrew did as well.) |
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1957 Chinese helmet with goggles - set based on photo in Piloto Maestro of Cuban pilots training in China on Yak-18s. |
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Another "Korean War" set, this one based on a photo of a Russian MiG-15 pilot who served with Col Pepelayev (actually this is a German LKPN-101 helmet with KM-16A mask). |
1950s "Czech MiG-15 Pilot" - based on photo, actually LKPN-101 with Chinese YM-6502 and older Russian goggles.
1960s "Indonesian MiG-17 Pilot" - based on photo of Dan Maukar in Last Tiger Out.
"Indian" RAF Mk 1A hardshell over Russian helmet and KM-32 mask - based on photo of Indian MiG-21 pilot.
| Not a helmet, but a widely used headset: the Russian GSShch-A-18. This is designed to be used directly with the KM-32AG demand diluter oxygen mask. This setup is similar in concept to one employed by the Brits for both military and civil applications. |
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Flightgear Links
Red Pilot Soviet Flight Gear, by Alexei Gershin. Excellent site on Russian helmets and oxygen masks.
Flight Helmet J.S.D.F by "ELINT Jin," about the little-known world of modern Japanese flight helmets. Although the current FHG-series appear similar to US helmets they are actually Japanese designs, and even the older ones based on the P-4 have uniquely Japanese features. Japan manufactures MBU-5 and MBU-12 oxygen masks under license, redesignating them as JMBU-5 and JMBU-12, respectively, and on the latter employs an indigenous type of bayonet connector. Notice in the photo below of a T-3 Instructor Pilot (from the official JASDF site) that the boom microphone is attached to one of these.
WINGS
CHINA (PLAAF)
LATIN AMERICA
Chile Colombia Colombia (Police)
Cuba Cuba (FAR) Cuba (Brigade 2506 - notional)
Ecuador El Salvador El Salvador
Guatemala Honduras Mexico Panama
Peru (FAP) Peru (Marina) Uruguay Venezuela
(Peruvian wings courtesy of Sr. Gaston Roca)
CANADA
Flight Crew Weapons Director (AWACS) Flight Surgeon
Search and Rescue Tactical Observer
WW II Pilot WW II Bombardier WW II Gunner
